The peach color has been a popular choice of color across the ages, with its soothing and pleasant yet subtle appearance.
It’s soft and feminine while not being childish, and can be used for everything from flesh tones to sunsets.
Making peach is easy. It is essentially a pale orange, so mixing red, yellow, and white will do the trick.
Depending on where you want to go with the color, you can add a bit more pink to create a coral color or a bit more yellow to make an apricot.
We’re going through the meaning and history of the color before examining comparisons to other colors and good color schemes for it.
What Color Is Peach?
Peach is a soothing color that’s pretty much a pastel orange.
It’s often seen on summer days, sunrises, and, of course, in the fruit’s color.
The peach color palette ranges from a soft orange to more pink and orange tones, depending on how you mix it.
Peach as a paint color was first developed in 1588 by painters who wanted to add more dimension to their artworks.
It doesn’t have a huge amount of symbolism in the West, but in China, where it originated, the peach tree symbolizes immortality, which is a crucial concept of Taoism.
This creates deep wells of meaning for the color, which has rippled out from the culture.
Using peach can add a lot of character to paintings and designs.
It evokes many different feelings, depending on what it reminds the person of.
Perhaps its most common use is for skin color, as it makes up part of caucasian skin coloring.
It has lots of meanings, such as being associated with the U.S. state of Georgia (a ‘Georgia peach’) and with Southern belles, beautiful young women.
The city of Atlanta, Georgia is sometimes called the ‘Big Peach,’ probably in reference to New York being the Big Apple.
Peach Color Names
There are quite a few peach-adjacent colors with their own color names.
Peach itself is a combination of red and pale orange. It is a kind of pinkish-orange.
Apricot combines this pinkish-orange with more yellow, making a yellowish-orange more reminiscent of apricots than peaches.
On the other side, coral uses more pink with pale orange, giving a pinkish-orange we associate with the living sea structures.
Coral is a popular color in fashion.
The range provided by these three variations on peach brings to mind most of the famous color names similar to peach.
However, there are also dark and light peach, beige, and other colors also within the peach color range.
One can also look at orange, tangerine, and nectarine as further adjacent color names with more range in the orange spectrum.
Rose gold, copper, and bronze are metallics with colors close to peach.
Peach Color History
The color name “peach” comes directly from the color of the fruit, which comes from the Latin word persica, meaning ‘the fruit from Persia.’
As it turns out, peaches are originally from China.
Still, somewhere along the line in Latin-speaking countries, they gained the reputation of coming from Persia.
The name carried over into Middle French, then Middle English, and finally to modern English today.
Peaches themselves were cultivated in China since at least 1000 B.C.E.
They were of particular significance as they were considered symbols of immortality.
In addition, Chinese brides carried peach blossoms, representing unity.
Due to Persia being between China and Europe along the silk road, it was the peaches planted there that first caught the attention of Alexander the Great and were brought to the Greek Empire around 350 B.C.E.
Since then, the peach has traveled all around the world, with the biggest producers today being China and Italy.
Peaches remain a staple fruit in diets around the world, often being a sweet treat that is saved for special occasions.
It is especially popular in desserts, such as peach cobbler and peach pie.
Preserved peaches have also had quite a strong tradition, especially in the United States.
The popular book and movie Holes has the main character find a collection of preserved peaches that save his life in the desert, representing a kind of ultra-sweet treasure.
The Crayola Color “Peach”
Another fascinating history of the color peach is the Crayola color.
Back in 1903, “Flesh Tint” was one of the original 38 colors of Crayola crayons.
However, this color eventually proved problematic – it had a strange back and forth in the 30s and 40s, where it eventually was reintroduced as just “flesh.”
The change to “peach” didn’t happen until 1962, when Crayola received a concerned letter.
The letter was written by a woman concerned about the relations between black and white children.
She had noticed that some white children would make fun of their black classmates by pointing out how their skin color didn’t match Crayola’s.
When she explained the situation, Crayola immediately changed the color name to ‘peach’ and has kept it that way ever since.
This strange situation has remained worthy of circulation and rumors amongst children even today, where the rumor of the flesh-colored crayon is brought up like an urban legend.
Peach Color Meaning
The color peach got its name from the fruit.
Because of this, it’s associated with the sweet, comforting taste of the fruit and a feeling of joy.
It was a trendy color in the 1980s, filling bathrooms and used on many household products.
Today, it’s beginning to find a resurgence, becoming a popular accent choice in interior design.
Of course, it has been used continuously in painting for skin tones and sunsets, so the color has never truly gone out of style.
Being a pastel color, peach often works best as a background or accent color, bringing out the bolder colors around it.
Generally, peach is considered a feminine color, pleasant, healing, and soft.
Some people use peach as a guidepost for when they’ve lost themselves and need something to return them to their true selves.
It has a sense of intimacy due to its similarity to some skin tones, yet is subtle enough to fade into the background like a neutral.
Peach is also associated with good manners and a calm demeanor.
It provides the shelter and comfort of a home, as used in the book and film, James and the Giant Peach.
Generally, it’s considered a positive and uplifting color, rejuvenating us in moments of difficulty.
Having a dash of peach color on an object can bring a small dose of joy, like a mug or a pen, and help us feel better about daily tasks.
Peach Color Theory
Fundamentally, Peach is a shade of orange, meaning you should begin with a mixture of red and yellow.
However, to get the pale shade of orange that makes peach, you’ll need to add some white to your orange, making it paler and more pastel.
This will get you a pastel color that moves from orange into peach, depending on the amount of white used.
If you add more yellow, it will turn into an apricot color, and if you add more pink, it will become a coral or salmon color.
Adding more red will provide a range of more or less saturated peach colors.
These are the range of peach-adjacent colors possible with a combination of red, yellow, and white.
If you go even further red with it, it will begin to look like rust before getting back to a true orange.
Adding further yellow tends towards a more apricot color until it becomes a sun-like yellow.
As you can see, it isn’t a simple matter of mixing just two primary colors to make a perfect peach.
If you count white as a color, it requires a little finesse in hitting the right amount of three different colors.
Complimentary Colors
Complimentary colors are the opposite color on the color wheel.
For peach, its direct complement is blue-violet.
Its split compliments, that is, the colors right next to its complement, are light blue and periwinkle color.
That is why blues in the blue-violet range compliment peach so nicely.
Generally, you want to match the level of paleness in color as well.
To compliment peach, you can go for a darker blue or blue-violet, but it will seem quite bold in contrast.
This can create a sense of dynamism and movement, however.
For neutrals that work with peach, gray, and off-white.
These tend to blur or fade peach itself into a more neutral range, creating a surprisingly modern and chic effect.
It allows peach to blend in naturally, creating a creamy effect.
Generally, peaches and cream are less popular today as they are too associated with an older taste generation.
However, the two colors do look good together.
Contrasting Colors
Monochromatic color schemes use subtle variations on the original color, while complementary color schemes use the opposite color and perhaps the ones adjacent to that.
We’ve already taken a look at those two, but there’s another option.
One way to look at contrasting colors to peach is to examine the third color common scheme one can use, the triadic color scheme.
This way of making a color scheme is to take the original color, peach, and make an equilateral triangle with it as one of the points on the color wheel.
Doing this, we can see that peach’s triadic colors are light mauve color and seafoam green.
Using these three colors together should make for great contrasting colors that balance out due to their three harmonious positions on the color wheel.
You can even vary things up a bit, choosing some more saturated than others.
This works exceptionally well with peach as it’s a fairly pale color and can handle some bold colors alongside it.
By going this route, the bold colors will stand out more, but the peach will remain a powerful background on which they are situated.
Is Peach Color a Warm or Cool Color
Peach is on the warm end of the spectrum, of which red is always a part, and yellow can be.
Orange is one of the quintessentially warm colors, and so the pale orange of peach is included in that warmth.
The opposite of the warm colors is the cool colors clustered around blue, including green and some purples.
However, the low intensity of peach makes it more of a warm, comforting color than a blazing hot one. It is an inviting and soft color, which is part of being a warm color.
Shades of Peach
Peach Color
| Color Name | Hex Code | RGB Code | CMYB Code |
| Peach | #ffe5b4 | 255, 229, 180 | 0, 10, 29, 0 |
Regular peach is a shade between pale orange and pink.
We’ve discussed this beautiful color throughout the article.
However, if you’re looking for different shades of peach, we’ve got quite a few you can consider.
From more yellowish, pinker, or more pastel, there are many directions you can take your standard peach color.
Peach Pink Color
| Color Name | Hex Code | RGB Code | CMYB Code |
| Peach Pink | #ff9a8a | 255, 154, 138 | 0, 40, 46, 0 |
Peach pink is a warm color that pushes the white and red aspects of peach just a little further.
Thus, it brings the color into a more coral range, brightening it up from a pastel to a more neon pastel color.
Peach Coral Color
| Color Name | Hex Code | RGB Code | CMYB Code |
| Peach Coral | #fbd5ab | 251, 213, 171 | 0, 15, 32, 2 |
Like peach pink, peach coral leans into the pink aspect of peach.
This means increasing the amount of brightness in the peach to give it that distinctive coral look, while not reaching a truly pink color.
It lies between a peach and a coral.
Peach Pastel Color
| Color Name | Hex Code | RGB Code | CMYB Code |
| Peach Pastel | #f7dfc2 | 247, 223, 194 | 0, 10, 21, 3 |
Peach pastel takes classic peach and adds more white to it, making it even paler.
This is great if you want an even more subtle, background color with your peach, verging on an off-white, cream color.
Dark Peach
| Color Name | Hex Code | RGB Code | CMYB Code |
| Dark Peach | #de7e5d | 222, 126, 93 | 0, 43, 58, 13 |
Dark peach is a more saturated peach, with less white and more orange.
It is very close to a true orange color, which is a hint of the more subtle colorations that make a peach.
One could say it looks like the darker parts of the fruit.
Light Peach
| Color Name | Hex Code | RGB Code | CMYB Code |
| Light Peach | #f6e4d1 | 246, 228, 209 | 0, 7, 15, 4 |
Light peach is the palest of the variations on our list, similarly close to an off-white like peach pastel.
The lightest and most subtle color on the list can hide in the background like a beige without being noticed, becoming a neutral color.
Peach Color Combinations
Peach is a bright and cheery spring color that goes well with many other color combinations.
The first is with certain neutrals, gray in particular.
Peach and grey make a sophisticated, elegant combination, great for weddings.
Cream and other off whites make another great neutral pairing.
For a monochromatic color scheme, you can pair peach with oranges and pinks, creating subtle contrasts that highlight each other.
Peach works great with lavender, periwinkle, and light blue for a contrasting color scheme.
Peach and lavender is a famous combination for bouquets and cake and is used in many home decor and dishware set-ups.
Finally, you can do with a triadic color scheme, using peach plus the two other colors on the color wheel that lie on the other points of an equilateral triangle from peach.
These are light mauve and seafoam green.
The three together balance each other out beautifully and can make a wonderful, subtle color space.
Alternatively, Peach is an excellent substitute for baby pink if you’re looking for a color that will transition from an early childhood color into adulthood.
It is more sophisticated than most pinks yet retains pink’s playfulness.
Therefore, it’s a great choice for nurseries and young kids’ rooms.
How to Make Peach Color Paint
The natural way to make a peach paint color is to blend an orange out of red and yellow (or just start with orange) and then add white to it until you reach a lovely peach color.
Starting with a nice saturated orange helps to reach a rich peach color in the end.
Depending on where you’d like the peach to end, adding more red will lend it to a deeper peach.
More yellow lends it towards more of an apricot color, and then more white brings it into a coral range.
Using exact colors, follow these steps:
- Mix equal parts lemon yellow and cadmium red.
- Then, add an equal amount you did for those of titanium white. This should get a rich peach color, which can be made more pastel by adding more titanium white.
You can adjust the paint colors as needed to make more apricot, pinkish, or off-white kinds of peach.
How to Make Peach Color with Colored Pencils
Using colored pencils is another way to up your color game, but it requires a bit of finesse when blending the colors.
Unlike paints, colored pencils can’t be mixed on a palette, and therefore need to be layered and blended straight on the drawing.
Here’s how to blend the perfect peach with colored pencils:
- Start with a pale yellow.
- Then, go over the yellow with dark orange, working it in.
- If you’d like to go a little darker, you can go over it again with a red.
- Finally, go back to the yellow and use it to blend all the previous colors.
Using this technique, you can blend a wide range of different colors.
Sticking to the peach range, the more yellow you use, the more apricot it will look.
The more orange, the deeper the peach saturation, and the more red, the more coral-like it will look.
How to Make Peach Skin Color Paint
For a peach skin color, you’ll want to experiment with the amount of white.
A deeper yellow undertone works best for most skin tones, while you’ll go deeper on the red for some, especially pale ones.
Just like with mixing regular peach paint, you’ll want to start with an orange base and then add white to it.
Using the orange to start is helpful for shading, then building it up with more and more white.
The color can range from a more apricot, yellowish-orange if you focus on the yellow undertones into a coral / peach pink with more red undertones.
All these are part of the peach family and can be used to add dimension to a peach skin color.
How is Peach Different than other Common Colors
There are a few variations of the color peach that have been making a splash in recent years.
Soft shades of peach have become part of what’s being called the “new neutrals,” a set of earthy off-white colors that can bring a neutral warmth to a space.
Traditional peach colors have also been making a comeback in design, inspired by the peaches of Palm Beach and other tropical feeling destinations.
Harkening back to tropical and resort designs of the 1980s, peach is a beautifully subtle yet exotic color that draws the eye in.
When peach colors get deeper and richer, they can mimic the feeling of golden hour sunsets, giving that hot summer night feeling.
The interplay between rich peach and more subtle peach can provide many color options and be used in countless different ways.
Finally, with a punchy energy, bold and vibrant pink peaches can provide a great pop of color to a room.
This is great for livening up small places like powder rooms or a funky bar area.
Peach Color vs Coral Color
| Color Name | Hex Code | RGB Code | CMYB Code |
| Peach | #ffe5b4 | 255, 229, 180 | 0, 10, 29, 0 |
| Coral | #ff7f50 | 255, 127, 80 | 0, 50, 69, 0 |
Coral is much more deeply orange than peach, bringing out much more of the red aspect of the color.
It is also more deeply saturated than peach, making it a stronger, more punchy color.
If you are looking for a fresh, zingy take on peach, coral is a great choice.
Peach Color vs Salmon
| Color Name | Hex Code | RGB Code | CMYB Code |
| Peach | #ffe5b4 | 255, 229, 180 | 0, 10, 29, 0 |
| Salmon | #fa8072 | 250, 128, 114 | 0, 49, 54, 2 |
Salmon is somewhere between peach and coral, being a more deep orange than peach, which has more red tones, but ending up in a more pink range than coral does.
For this reason, it is more subtle than coral but stronger than peach.
Peach Color vs Orange
| Color Name | Hex Code | RGB Code | CMYB Code |
| Peach | #ffe5b4 | 255, 229, 180 | 0, 10, 29, 0 |
| Orange | #ffa500 | 255, 165, 0 | 0, 35, 100, 0 |
Orange lacks the brightness and pale qualities of peach, missing the white inside it.
Instead, it is a fully saturated color, a pure mixture of red and yellow.
Peach Color vs Pink
| Color Name | Hex Code | RGB Code | CMYB Code |
| Peach | #ffe5b4 | 255, 229, 180 | 0, 10, 29, 0 |
| Pink | #ffc0cb | 255, 192, 203 | 0, 25, 20, 0 |
Pink is as subtle as peach but lacks as much yellow and orange.
Instead, pink is almost entirely made up of red and white, depending on the variation.
For decades, pink has been a very popular and feminine color but is often considered less subtle than peach.
Peach Color vs Rose Gold
| Color Name | Hex Code | RGB Code | CMYB Code |
| Peach | #ffe5b4 | 255, 229, 180 | 0, 10, 29, 0 |
| Rose Gold | #b76e79 | 183, 110, 121 | 0, 40, 34, 28 |
Rose gold is much darker than many of the other colors on this list.
It can be thought of like a darker coral, taking the red of that color and deepening it.
It lies somewhere between an orange and a dark red.
Peach Color vs Apricot
| Color Name | Hex Code | RGB Code | CMYB Code |
| Peach | #ffe5b4 | 255, 229, 180 | 0, 10, 29, 0 |
| Apricot | #fbceb1 | 251, 206, 177 | 0, 18, 29, 2 |
Apricot has been one of the key comparisons throughout this article, being a slightly more yellow peach color.
It’s great for more subtle tones while still being a saturated color.
Peach Color vs Beige
| Color Name | Hex Code | RGB Code | CMYB Code |
| Peach | #ffe5b4 | 255, 229, 180 | 0, 10, 29, 0 |
| Beige | #f5f5dc | 245, 245, 220 | 0, 0, 10, 4 |
Beige is much more yellow than peach but similarly pale.
It was the color of almost all computers for a long time in the late 80s and early 90s.
Now, beige is still used as a popular wall color but is not often used for objects.
Peach Color in Interior Design
Early Peach Design
Peach is a highly versatile color in interior design.
Highly popular in the 1980s, it has fallen out of favor in the intervening years.
However, there’s been the beginning of a resurgence of this color in the last few years which may become a trend.
The 1980s have been getting a comeback, and peach just might be a part of it.
If you’re looking for something a bit more adult and subtle than cotton candy pink, peach gives a warm and welcoming vibe without being overwhelming.
One fun use of peach from the past that even works today is with other sorbet colors, such as mint, seafoam, robin’s egg, or other pastels.
The quiet, cloud-like feeling of these colors together really makes a fun yet soothing statement.
Contemporary Peach Design
Used with golds, off whites, or black, it can become a highly elegant color that gives a touch of luxury. Peach and gold especially have made a comeback.
Another great choice is gray, which pairs with peach for a sense of soft luxury.
Another great power of peach is that it can soften a hard geometric design.
The color itself evokes the curved lines of the body, giving a sense of roundness to an otherwise geometric space.
In terms of color space, it is actually quite similar in color to copper, making it an interesting substitute and complement for the metal.
A warm shade of peach creates a romantic atmosphere in a room.
You can pair it with dark woods for a rich feeling of sophistication as the peach instantly warms any room.
Peach can blur the line between being a neutral color and a splash of something different.
This allows it to work in various contexts without becoming overwhelming.
Peach in the bedroom makes for a soft cocoon of color, while in a smaller space it can appear as a pop of color.
When paired with a metallic or stark black or white, it works as a graphic color.
Whatever you do with peach, have fun with it.
There’s no limit to the creative possibilities.
Conclusion
Peach is a beautiful color with lots of potential.
It’s having a resurgence in popularity since the 80s and has been used in painting since the 1600s.
Its use as a flesh tone has led both to be incredibly useful and sometimes controversial, as the Crayola story tells us.
We’ve seen that there is a lot of variety within the peach color range.
From apricot to coral to beige, there are lots of small variations that can make a big difference in the color.
So, now that you know how to make peach and use it to your advantage, it’s time to go out and create!
Peach Color FAQ
Is peach and orange or pink?
Peach is a light orange, although some variations veer into pink. This depends on the ratio of white and red in the color compared with yellow. An even spread of red, yellow, and white will look pastel orange, while the more red and white, the more pinkish peach it will become.
What shade is peach color?
The hex code for pure peach is #ffe5b4. It is a shade of pale orange, which is orange mixed with white. It gets its name from the color of the fruit.
What is the meaning of a peach color?
The bright color symbolizes energy, playfulness, elegance, and vitality. It is often seen as sweet and pleasant, like the fruit.